De Novo Valve Tissue Morphology Following Bioscaffold Mitral Valve Replacement in a Juvenile Non-Human Primate Model
Abstract
The utility of implanting a bioscaffold mitral valve consisting of porcine small intestinal submucosa (PSIS) in a juvenile baboon model (12 to 14 months old at the time of implant; <i>n</i> = 3) to assess their in vivo tissue remodeling responses was investigated. Our findings demonstrated that the PSIS mitral valve exhibited the robust presence of de novo extracellular matrix (ECM) at all explantation time points (at 3-, 11-, and 20-months). Apart from a significantly lower level of proteoglycans in the implanted valve’s annulus region (<i>p</i> < 0.05) at 3 months compared to the 11- and 20-month explants, there were no other significant differences (<i>p</i> > 0.05) found between any of the other principal valve ECM components (collagen and elastin) at the leaflet, annulus, or chordae tendinea locations, across these time points. In particular, neochordae tissue had formed, which seamlessly integrated with the native papillary muscles. However, additional processing will be required to trigger accelerated, uniform and complete valve ECM formation in the recipient. Regardless of the specific processing done to the bioscaffold valve, in this proof-of-concept study, we estimate that a 3-month window following bioscaffold valve replacement is the timeline in which complete regeneration of the valve and integration with the host needs to occur.
Date
01-07-2021Author
Brittany A. Gonzalez
Marcos Perez Gonzalez
Frank Scholl
Steven Bibevski
Elena Ladich
Jennifer Bibevski
Pablo Morales
Jesus Lopez
Mike Casares
Vincent Brehier
Lazaro Hernandez
Sharan Ramaswamy
